Why are autism rates rising?
The following video is an amalgamation of personal experience, secondary research, and social commentary.
While some of the research in this video was initially conducted for my Master of Fine Arts thesis, its educational and scientific nature led me to include it in this project instead.
The project touches on the misinformation surrounding the autistic community and presents personal narration as a form of informational storytelling for combating misinformation. I created the video with footage from personal projects and videos in the public domain.
references
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CDC. 2025. “Data and Statistics on Autism Spectrum Disorder.” Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). CDC. April 15, 2025. https://www.cdc.gov/autism/data-research/index.html.
Creswell, Joanna. 2016. “Our Ways of Being: Visualizing Neurodiversity and Autism.” Lensculture.
“The Evidence on Vaccines and Autism.” 2025. Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. March 19, 2025. https://publichealth.jhu.edu/2025/the-evidence-on-vaccines-and-autism.
Hviid, Anders, Jørgen Vinsløv Hansen, Morten Frisch, and Mads Melbye. 2019. “Measles, Mumps, Rubella Vaccination and Autism.” Annals of Internal Medicine 170 (8): 513–20. https://doi.org/10.7326/m18-2101.
“Is There an Autism Epidemic?” 2025. Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. June 6, 2025. https://publichealth.jhu.edu/2025/is-there-an-autism-epidemic.
Mulroy, Clare, and Leora Arnowitz. 2025. “Trump Said Autism Diagnoses Are on the Rise, and That’s True. But There’s More You Need to Know.” USA TODAY. March 5, 2025. https://www.usatoday.com/story/life/health....
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Shaw, Kelly A. 2025. “Prevalence and Early Identification of Autism Spectrum Disorder among Children Aged 4 and 8 Years — Autism and Developmental Disabilities Monitoring Network, 16 Sites, United States, 2022.” MMWR. Surveillance Summaries 74 (2). https://doi.org/10.15585/mmwr.ss7402a1.
Shute, Nancy. 2010. “Desperate for an Autism Cure.” Scientific American 303 (4): 80–85. https://doi.org/10.1038/scientificamerican1010-80.